[Gllug] Monthly GLLUG grammar report

[Dylan]

On Sunday 01 December 2002 22:21, Nix wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Nov 2002, Liam Delahunty moaned:
> > The Americans spell in their idiosyncratic manner [1] partially as they
> > (possibly Webster was the author) wanted to distance themselves from the
> > British in their language as well as politics.
>
> Webster was purportedly trying to `rationalize' English.
>
> Some of the rationalizations (colour -> color) stuck; some (tongue ->
> tung) didn't; and some (ise -> ize) actually didn't change in American
> English but *did* change in .uk (and I'm annoying people by
> inconsistently using both forms as the fancy takes me).
>
> > English was a fluid language, borrowing freely from other languages and
> > adapting to current usage and fashions. I think it's a matter for regret
> > that what was once so adaptable has become bogged down by rules and
> > "proper" grammar.
>
> In common usage, it hasn't, as far as I can tell; neologisms, slang and
> grammatical variations continue to be coined apace (and fall into disuse
> as well). The grammarians, even in their high days in the 19th century,
> were never really that influential. (It's true that printed books have
> probably slowed linguistic evolution somewhat, and dictionaries aided
> spelling standardization, but neither of those have much to do with
> pedantic grammatical rules.)
>
> Like all languages, English is as she is spoke (and wrote) :)

Hear Hear!
If we meet in person, I'll stand u a pint!

>
> >          Obviously, some form of standardised usage is to be encouraged,
> > but the most important use of language is to convey meaning, and
> > regrettably that seems to pass most educators by while the spelling of
> > "kat" or using "I ain't" doesn't.
>
> I can your sentence...
>
> (hm, that looks wrong to me; word order askew?)

What u tryin 2 say? Maybe "I ken ur sentence" ?

>
> > [1] Arguably, the British spelling is now idiosyncratic as most global
> > users
>
> It's a regional dialect, of course. :)
>
> > of English are speaking/writing American English. It will only be a
> > matter of time before we all do.
>
> Why? Dialects aren't blurring together *that* fast.

-- 
"Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not, we are
Between the wars"

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